Newcastle United are on a recruitment drive this summer as Eddie Howe tries to turn his squad from one that seeks midtable to a unit that is intent on challenging in the top half of the table. While finding the right players to take them forward is naturally the trickier part, the effort to get others out the door is by no means an easy process.
With the pressure on to trim their squad down to the required 25 for Premier League competition, several players must be aware that their days are numbered. If they weren’t already, that news has been made abundantly clear to them by Howe.
Ciaran Clark, Jeff Hendrick and Dwight Gayle have all been ordered to train with Newcastle’s under 23 side as Howe hopes to both force them out and work exclusively with the players likely to be present next season. The report, which comes from the Daily Mail, said that all three were likely to be leaving Newcastle in the near future.
All three should have futures in the Championship. All now in their 30s, at their peak all three were considered solid top division players and that experience will likely be looked upon favourably by teams trying to hoist themselves into that league. Whether Newcastle are able to obtain much recompense for them seems doubtful.
